America lags behind in paid period leave

BY NATHALIE MIRANDA Reporter

The United States needs to follow in Spain’s footsteps and give American workers the right to paid period leave.

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-JuanParada,photography

In February, Spain passed some sexual and reproductive rights laws, one of which gives workers paid period leave for up to three days to those who deal with painful menstrual cycles. Spain is the first European country to pass such a law, but paid period leave is something that has already existed in a few countries. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Zambia, Indonesia and Vietnam already have paid period leave laws.

The United States does not have anything similar but according to a Washington Post article titled, “Need time off work for period pain? These countries offer ‘menstrual leave,’” individual companies are starting to introduce it. And the rest of the country needs to follow suit.

Periods are painful for many women who have them.

Dysmenorrhea is the term for pain experienced during periods, and according to an article excerpt posted by the

American Academy of Family Physicians, “Dysmenorrhea is fairly common, and it may be severe enough to interfere with daily activities in up to 20 percent of women.”

This pain makes it hard for people who menstruate to stay productive. An article from the British Medical Journal(BMJ) titled, “Menstrual symptoms linked to nearly 9 days of lost productivity throughout presenteeism every year,” discusses research taken from over 30,000 women that shows just how much productivity is affected during menstruation.

According to their research, more than a third of the respondents have to visit a doctor because of menstrual symptoms and around one in seven respondents had to take time off school/work because of period pain. The research concluded that menstruation causes people to miss work or underperform at least 23 days a year because of their pain.

Paid period leave would stop forcing those going through such pain to continue working. It would also combat many of the stereotypes that surround periods. Many people who don’t menstruate still don’t think that periods can get incredibly painful. Having an

Kelly Wallace and Jenn Christian of CNN Health took a deep dive into what are not just the short term, but also long term benefits of paid leave.

“Women who took longer than 12 weeks maternity leave reported fewer depressive symptoms, a reduction in severe depression and improvement in their overall health,” Wallace and Christian said.

According to Maurcio Avendano, Associate Professor of social science, health and medicine at King’s College London, “Women who were exposed to a more generous maternity leave policy were 18% more likely to suffer from depression 30 years later when they were 50 or older.”

Wallace and Christian also touch on the effects that paid parental leave has on fathers.

“When Looking at fathers in the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark and Australia, dads who took paternity leave of 10 days or longer were more involved with their children and child care activities in comparison to men who took no leave,” Wallace and Christian said. State mandated paid maternity leave should be a right. It’s not a woman's fault that her body goes through certain things after giving birth. It’s human nature. Paid maternity leave benefits mothers and their children and gives them time to spend with each other. We are all human and we all deserve to enjoy the little things in life (no pun intended). rsantos.roundupnews@gmail.com official law that gives paid period leave will show that periods are painful enough and that the pain should be taken seriously. nm.miranda.roundupnews@gmail.com

The same BMJ study also showed that only about one in five women who had called out of work or school because of their period pain told the real reason for their absence. Additionally, around twothirds of the respondents said that they wished for more flexibility in their work or school schedule during their periods.

People who menstruate already know that their period pain is often not taken seriously and this study shows that it needs to be.

If someone is in so much pain that they have to visit a doctor, they should not be forced to work. This is something that most people can agree with and it needs to extend to periods.